Firearm receiver



A11g 7, 1934 F. F. BURTON ET Al. 1,969,255

FIREARM RECEIVER Filed June 17, 1932 Patented Aug. 7, 1934 g UNITED smrss as.

This invention relates FIREARIM RECEIVER Frank F. Burton, Mount Carmel, and William C. Roemer, New Haven, Conn., assignors to Winchester Repeating Arms Company, New Haven, Conn., a corporation of Maryland Application June 17, 1932, Serial No. 617,766

2 Claims.

to an improvement in firearms such, for instance, as rides, Shotguns, etc., and relates in particular to an improvement in the so-called receivery portion or member thereof.

One of ther objects of our present invention is to provide a neat, attractive and workmanlike firearm receiver.

A further object of our present invention is to provide a receiver of such character as may be produced at a relatively low cost for manufacture.

A further object of our invention is to provide a strong and rugged firearm receiver of such character as will permit the convenient installation of the moving parts thereinto.

Other objects will, from the following and the accompanying drawing, skilled in the art.

be apparent to those In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is a View in side elevation of one form which a receiver embodying our invention may assume;

Fig. 2 is a transverse scale;

sectional View thereof,

taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, but on a larger Fig. Sis a corresponding view taken on the line Fig. 4 is a broken detail sectional view taken Fig. 5 is a similar view of Fig. 1;

on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1, but on a larger scale;

taken on the line 5--5 Fig. 6 is a view of the receiver body looking toward the open side face Fig. 'l is a face View of thereof; the closure plate; and

Fig. 8 is a View looking toward the top edge of the closure plate.

In the embodiment of our invention herein chosen for illustration, we employ a receiver body generally designated by preferably produced by a forging operation and the numeral 10. As

shown, the said body is provided with a top wall 11, complementary bottom wall 12, rear wall 13 and a complementary front wall 14. The said walls 11, 12, 13 and 14 are formed integral with Mounted in the front wall 14 of the receiver body 10 and forwardly projecting therefrom is a gun-barrel 17 and a magazine-tube 18 eX- tending in substantial parallelism in accordance 5' with the usual practice.

The rear wall 13 of (Cl. 42-1) Y the said receiver body is formed with a threaded bore 19 receiving the externally-threaded stem 20 formed at the forward end of a stud-like receiver-shank 21 which extends rearwardly from the said body-member in a slightly down- 50 wardly-inclined direction and is formed in its rear end with an internally threaded bore 22 receiving the threaded forward end of a buttstock-retaining screw 23.

The rear face of the rear Wall 13 of the re- 65 ceiver body 1G is formed with `a groove 24 receiving a tenon 25 forwardly offsetting from the forward end of a butt-stock 26, which latter is suitably bored out to accommodate the receiver- Y shank 21 and the screw 23. 70

The upper rear corner of the receiver body 10 is provided with a rearwardly-extending top tang 27 fitting into a notch 28 in the forward upper corner of the butt-stock 26 and having its upper surface contoured to form a symmetrical continuation of the upper surface of the receiver body proper.

Downwardly projecting from the top wall 11 of the receiver body 10 is a lip 29, the outer face of which forms a seat 29a inset below the 80' adjacent open side edge of the body to a degree suflicient to accommodate the upper edge of a closure plate 30 so as to support the upper end thereof. The rear end of the closure plate rests upon a seat 3l formed in thev outer face of the 85 rear wall 13 and inset therefrom to approximately the same degree as is the outer face of the lip 29. Similarly, the outer face of the bottorn wall 12 is inset below the general plane of the open side face of the receiver body to provide a seat 32 for the support of the rear portion of the lower edge of the closure plate 30.

. The forward portion ofthe upper edge of the closure plate 30 isV notched as at 33 to provide an ejection-opening 34 leading outward from 95 the forward end of the cavity 16 within the said body 10, the forward end of the top wall 11 of which latter being cut away as at 35 to ccmplement the said notch 33 in the closure plate l 30 in providing ample clearance for the ejection 100 of empty shells. The forward end of the closure plate 30 is formed upon its inner face with a vertical cut 36 resulting in the formation of a forwardly-extending tongue 37, the inner face of which is adapted to rest against a seat 38 105 formed in the outer face of the forward wall 14 of the body 10 slightly below the facial plane thereof.

The seats 29a, 31, 32 and 38 are preferably n depressed below the general plane of the open side face of the receiver body 10 to permit the closure plate 30, when installed in place, to symmetrically complement the contour of the said body.

The forward portion of the bottom wall 12 of the receiver body 10 is out away to provide a loading-opening 39 affording access into the vhollov.T interior ofH the said body between the side wall 15 thereof and the closure plate 30, as clearly shown in Fig. 3, and from which access may be had to the magazine-tube 18. Preferably, the lower inner corner of that portion of the side wall 15 of the body l0 lying in line with the loading-opening 39 is beveled as at 40, as is also the similar 'edge' 41 of they closure plate 30. v

About midway its length, the closure plate 30 is formed upon its upper edge with an upwardly-` extending interlocking tongue or retaining projection 42 of curved form from front to rear and adapted to nt intor asimilarly-shaped socket 43 formed in the top wall 11 of the vbody 10 ,outwardly adjacent the 'lip 29 depending, therefrom. The front wall of the socket 43 just referred to serves as an inwardly-facing retainingshoulder 43a. j

supplementing the interlocking tongue 42 of the closure plate,'we employ a pair of complementary screws 44 and 45, the former of which extends through a countersunk passage 46 adjacent the lower rear corner of the closure plate 30 and into a threaded bore 47 formed inthe body 10 adjacent the junction point of vthe seats 3l and 32 thereof, while the latter screw 45 extends through a countersunk passage 48 formed in the closure plate 30 adjacent the forward upper corner thereof and into a threaded bore 49 extending inwardly from the seat 38 inthe receiver body 10.

Depending from the bottom wall`12 of the receiver body 10 is a trigger-guard 5D formed integral therewith and capable of being roughforrned in a forging operation simultaneously with the forging of the cavity 16 in the. said body-member l0.`

By forging or otherwise forming a receiver body with an open side face, the same may be produced ata relatively low cost inasmuch as alarge number of cutting operations need not be performed in order to hollow out the interior of the receiver, rin accordance with more general practice. Furthermore, when the receiver is formed in two parts, including a body having an open side face and a closure plate for normally closing the same, it is possible to expeditiously perform machining operations within the receiver, as well as to install, inspect and adjust moving parts, etc., therein.

By the particular construction shown, in which the Areceiver is formed vwith lintegral top, bottom, front and rear walls, a strong and sturdy receiver may be provided, notwithstanding the fact that the same .is .made in two parts. By simply stopping the bottom wall 12 short of the forward end of the body-member, a convenient loading-opening is provided which extends, as may be observed by reference to FigA 3, between the side wall 15 and the closure plate 30. Furthermore, an ejection-opening complementing the loading-opening 39 just above referred to is readily formed by notching the forward upper edge of the closure plate 30.

'By providing an interengaging tongue and a socket, one of which forms a feature of the bodymember and the other of whichforrns a feature of the closure plate, we are enabled by the addition of but simple and unobtrusive fasteningmeans, such as the screws 44 and 45, to secure the closure plate 30 solidly in place in such manner that the `receiver appears at a casual glance tobe of one-piece construction.

lt will be understood by those skilled in the art that our invention may assume varied physical forms without departing from our inventive concept, and we, therefore, do not limit ourselves to the specific embodiment herein chosen for illustration, but only as indicated in the appended claims. f f

W e claim:

1. In a firearm receiver the combination with a hollow unitary receiver body having an open side face to permit lateral access thereinto and having top and bottom walls; of apair of complementary seats respectively formed adjacent the frontand rear ends of thersaid receiver body in a plane below the adjacent surface thereof; a closure plate covering the open side face of the said receiver body and seated upon the said cornplenientary seats therein; a retaining-shoulder and a complementary retaining-projection, one of which forms a feature of the top wall of the saidl receiver bodyl intermediate the front and rear ends thereof Vand the, other of which forms a feature of the top edge of the said closure plate intermediate the front and rear ends thereof, and both of which areadapted for interengagement to assist in the retention of the said plate; and fastening means extending into the said complementary seats respectively formed at the front and rear ends of the said receiver body for holding the said closure plate in place thereon.

2. In a firearm receiver the combination with a hollow unitary receiver body having an open side face to permit lateral access thereinto and formed with a pair ofcomplementary seats respectively located adjacent its front and rear ends and formed in its top wall at a point intermediate the said seats with a retaining-notch; of a closure plate covering the open side face of the said receiver body in position to engage the complementary seats therein and provided in its upper edge with an offsetting retainingprojection adaptedrto 'engage with the said retaining-notch-of the receiver body; and fastening means extending into the said complementary seats 'at the front and rear ends of the said receiver body for holding the said closure plate in place therein.

FRANK F. BURTON.

WILLIAM C. ROEMER. 

